Timothy Carney, the author of The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money, talks about “The Forgotten Man” at the CEI.

George H. Love had worked in a coal mine in his youth, but then went to Harvard Business School. By 1950, Love had pieced together a coal empire, combining a handful of coal companies into Pittsburgh Consolidated Coal Company, the world?s largest coal company. When Love sat down at the table he was representing not only his own coal giant, but all the big soft coal mine operators in the country.

Across from him was John L. Lewis. The son of Welsh immigrants, Lewis was working the mines by the age of 15. At 37 years old, he was the head of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW). He founded the Congress of Industrial Organizations, which is now the “CIO” of the AFL-CIO.

When the two hammered out an agreement giving Lewis almost everything he wanted on wages and hours, newspapers called it “submission” on the part of Love. As the agreement played out for the rest of the decade, it began to look like something else. A jury later it called it “a conspiracy.”

I highly suggest reading the entire article.

Alright, that last bit hasn’t happened yet. But it might if Republicans can’t get their act together before November.

In its third-quarter report card for Congress, Heritage found “improvement needed.”

As the 109th Congress draws closer to its conclusion, there is growing disappointment among many Members and voters over how little has been accom?plished since the 109th convened in February 2005. Federal budgets for fiscal years 2005 and 2006 were not completed until several months into the next fiscal year, the earmark epidemic has been linked to corruption, the much-maligned highway bill was enacted two years late (and gained nothing in quality from the delay), the new Medicare drug benefit plan will add more than $1 trillion to the federal budget over the next 10 years, and the financially shaky Social Security system remains untouched and unreformed.

The report offered the following grades:

Senate Spending: D
House Spending: D+
Senate Budget Process Reform: F
House Budget Process Reform: D
Senate Property Rights: D-
House Property Rights: A+
Senate Earmark Reform: C-
House Earmark Reform: D
Senate Social Security Reform: D-
House Social Security Reform: F
Senate Pension Reform: D
House Pendion Reform: B-
Senate Energy: F
House Energy: D
Senate Tax Rates: C-
House Tax Rates: B
Senate Tax Reform: C-
House Tax Reform: B
Senate Medicare: F
House Medicare: F
Senate Medicaid: C
House Medicaid: B-
Senate Health Care Reform: D
House Health Care Reform: F

Overall a miserable performance, check out the report for more details.